There are a lot of toddler cups on the market designed to help a child transition from using a bottle to being able to drink from a regular cup. Even cups designed for the youngest toddler are typically designed to hold 4-6 oz of liquid. A cup with only a couple ounces of liquid requires the child to mindfully manipulate the cup, by changing the angle of the cup, to continue to obtain liquid. Learning to tip the cup upward to continue finding liquid until the cup is empty requires much practice because the child needs to learn to tilt the cup upward and their heads backward at the same time.
A full cup of liquid mitigates this problem by decreasing the need for the child to angle the cup or their head. This results in countless wasted ounces of liquid because a young toddler may not drink more than an ounce at a time. Young toddlers beginning training with a cup may take only a few sips, but still the cup needs to be full to reinforce their efforts.
One way to reduce the waste associated with providing a full cup to a toddler is to use cups with smaller volumes. Using cups as small as the amount of liquid a toddler is likely to drink is impractical and expensive. Also, such a small cup (1 to 2 oz.) is likely to be difficult for a child to hold, thus creating a new problem with learning to use a toddler cup. For the benefit and ease of use of the toddler cup, children are best served by being able to hold a cup of normal size.
Another important issue parents face in raising our children is nutrition. Drinking too much juice or other high calorie liquids is a contributing factor to the crisis of obesity. Therefore, it is crucial for parents to be able to easily and accurately provide toddlers with well measured amounts of calorie-laden drinks.
As such, there remains a need in the art for cups which can help a child become accustomed to drinking from a regular cup.